WD TV Live Plus: Western Digital's Latest Media Player Reviewed

Connectivity options with the WD TV Live Plus are fairly robust, and should be able to connect to any television new or even older sets. However some prospective buyers with certain models of receivers might be disappointed by the lack of coaxial S/PDIF. 

One of the greatest benefits of a media player like this over a HTPC (besides the initial cost) is the power consumption of the device. The WD TV Live Plus consumed 4 watts idle at the home screen, with no storage media plugged into the USB port. The maximum wattage pulled from the wall during HD video playback from a USB powered HDD was 13 watts. Even a well designed power conscious HTPC is going to pull at least 20 watts at idle, and most likely well above 50 at load. And those numbers go up significantly depending on the processor, chipset and graphics you decide on. For those who value low power consumption this device certainly fits the bill, consuming almost 8 times less power than an HTPC at idle and 5 times less power at load.